Banding in jpg Files on the Web

[Matthew Gorringe]

I'm currently preparing a website and am annoyed at the banding in jpg files when viewed in a web browser. I'm not sure if it is a jpg compression issue or a browser issue. When viewing the saved files in photoshop there is no banding which makes me think it must have to do with either Windows or the browsers.

I've attached an example below but you can see it in many pictures with smooth skies and seas in the gallery.

Any advice on how to avoid this horrible mess would be appreciated. Of course I need to keep the file size down to ~ 100kb for a 450x450px file. Apologies if this has been covered before but I couldn't find any discussion on this topic.

 

[rjas]

is it your scanner? My old flatbed wreaks havoc on the shadows of my prints.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Compression, I think. I had horrible banding when I first set up www.rogerandfrances.com but since changing to less compression it has gone away. That's without changing scanners.

 

[Ole]

It could be the browser - I can't see any banding using Opera.

 

[coigach]

Also think it might be your browser. Tried looking at this on Mac at home using Safari, no banding. Tried looking at it on it my work PC using Explorer, lots of banding...

Cheers,
Gavin

 

[Lee L]

No banding in Firefox 2.0.0.6 under linux.

Lee

 

[Andy K]

No banding in Firefox with OS X.

 

[Matthew Gorringe]

Not sure if it's the browser or the OS (or possibly even hardware?). I've tried Firefox and Explorer under XP and have banding with both. I can't really see why Lee should have a clean file with Linux and Firefox and I have banding with XP and Firefox.

I've tried increasing the jpg compression quality settings and found it's slightly better but not gone. (BTW the files above was aved with a quality setting of 80).

One thing that's interesting is that in PS v.7 I can't see any banding when I open the saved files but if I go into the "Save for Web" dialogue the banding immediately appears so PS is able to anticipate my problem.

 

[Matthew Gorringe]

I just tried Opera and had the same banding. It's down to OS or hardware. At least I know it's not a problem with my image processing.

 

[gr82bart]

What's the resolution of your monitor? What graphics board do you have? It has nothing to do with the JPG file and it has nothing to do with the browser.

Also, describe the workflow you use - from the cature to web publishing. What are steps in PS that you are using? I assume you are using PS. If you know what gamut/ICC profile you are using, please name it.

Regards, Art.

 

[Andy K]

I had a similar problem earlier this year. I was using an Epson 2480 to scan prints and negs under XP. Then I switched to (Intel)Mac, and started getting awful scans with the banding you describe. Nothing I did would solve the problem, I reinstalled software, checked screen setiings etc. In the end I got a new scanner (Canoscan LIDE 600) which has a mac specific version of its software, and that fixed the problem.

 

[Travis Nunn]

I have noticed banding like this on some of my photos, too. I uploaded a negative scan to Art's "Shut the ... Up" thread last night from home. My personal laptop shows the banding and my work laptop (which is much newer) does not show the banding, from your picture nor from mine. This would leave me to believe it's a hardware issue, specifically either the graphics card or monitor.

It might be helpful to know that both laptops have XP Pro and I use Firefox 2.0.0.6

 

[gr82bart]

It has nothing to do with his scanner or operating system. It's his monitor / graphics hardware / ICC profile combo.

Regards, Art.

 

[Matthew Gorringe]

Thanks Art,
it was as simple as changing my monitor to 32bit colour. Can't believe I didn't look at that first.

 

[gr82bart]

Glad you got it fixed, Matt. Now post an image or two, will ya? We're dying to see some.

Regards, Art.

 

[kevin_c]

Thanks Art,
it was as simple as changing my monitor to 32bit colour. Can't believe I didn't look at that first.

Glad you sorted it - I had this exact same issue with my old works laptop, they were so old and slow, that to help speed things up, they (the IT dept) had locked them down to 16bit colour depth, and most images looked terrible on them, although they were fine for documents and spreadsheets etc. (what they were intended for )